Cricket Club honours Sachin Tendulkar

PTI

Nov 23, 2012, 12:38 PM IST

mumbai news in English

Mumbai: The Cricket Club of India, which changed its rules in the 1980s to let a then 14-year-old Sachin Tendulkar use its dressing room, honoured the senior batsman as part of its 75th anniversary celebrations at the Brabourne Stadium here.

The 39-year-old became nostalgic at a function here on Thursday evening as he recollected his memories of the facility that shaped his formative years in the game.

"It is a special occasion. Whenever I come to CCI, I feel special. Thank you for the love and affection, it really means a lot to me. I remember my association with CCI started, when I was playing school cricket. I played Harris Shield finals here. I was playing cricket at Shivaji Park," Tendulkar said at the ceremony.

CCI changed its rules to allow the then 14-year-old cricketer to use its dressing room when he featured in local tournaments in the late 1980s.

"I happened to play against CCI, against (Madhav) Apte, and even Raj bhai (Raj Singh Dungarpur) was there and I got some runs against CCI. I was maybe 13 or 14. That is when the decision was taken to have me play at CCI. But under-18 were not allowed in dressing room and I was only 13 or 14," he recalled.

"Thanks to Raj bhai and Apte for allowing me to be in the dressing room. From there on things started looking a bit different for me in cricket. I remember when we played Australia here and then Mumbai and we won convincingly, a fantastic moment for a Mumbaikar.

CCI is one of the members affiliated to the BCCI but does not take part in the Ranji Trophy national tournament. The Brabourne Stadium was regular Test venue in this metropolis before all the international cricket matches were shifted to the nearby Wankhede Stadium in the mid-1970s, following a long-standing seat-sharing dispute between the club and the Mumbai Cricket Association.

When Wankhede was undergoing renovation before the 2011 World Cup and was unavailable to host matches, Test cricket returned to the Brabourne, albeit for just one game, when India played against Sri Lanka in December, 2009.